Pregnancy and Lactation Weekly Digest

Mark Kurlansky, master of writing books telling world history through the lens of a single titular substance (Cod, Salt, Paper), has done it again. His newest, Milk, describes a number of debates surrounding the drink, including – you guessed it – breast versus bottle. Read more here.

This is important for you because it’s nice to have something good to read while nursing that baby.

Motherhood in the Age of Fear

Think it’s annoying when strangers judge your behavior since you’re pregnant? It can get worse after you give birth. They often think that how you raise your children is their concern. Unless you are being criminally negligent or abusive, it is not. And letting your kids play outside does not constitute criminal negligence. Read more here.

This is important for you because moms are under so much pressure as it is – the last thing we need is surveillance and judgement by everyone around us al the time.

Waa Waa Waa

There is a lot you can tell from your baby’s cry; whether he’s tired or hungry or hurt or just wants to cuddled. Turns out, you can also tell what her adult voice will sound like. New research indicates that the pitch of a person’s voice is determined in utero and doesn’t change much over his life. It was a small study of mostly boys though, so will need to be borne out by further studies. Read more here.

This is important for you because next time anyone gives you a hard time for letting your baby cry too long – you can just reply you’re trying to hear their adult tenor.

Roe v. Wade

No one should be forced to have a baby against her will – to gestate it for forty weeks, which may or may not cause her pain but will certainly change her body, her brain, and her life; to go through labor and delivery, which is definitely painful and which is increasingly dangerous in this country; and to raise a child that does not fit into her plans. Read one woman’s powerful take on reproductive rights and freedoms here.

This is important for you because can’t seem to wrap their heads around the concept of a woman not wanting to have a baby. Our role in society relies on our, not our government’s, being able to control our reproductive decisions.

The most popular article published in The Pulse this week was The Baby Drop In Pregnancy: All You Need To Know. Read this very interesting article here.

Dr. Diana Gitig has a Ph.D. in cell biology and genetics from Cornell University, and has been writing about issues in biology – from molecular biology to cancer to immunology to neuroscience to nutrition to agriculture - for the past fifteen years. She has three teenaged children.